Do you have to rush the quarterback in 7v7 flag football?
No, rushing is optional in 7v7 flag football, and this is the first format where sending somebody is genuinely affordable rather than a sacrifice. Seven defenders against five eligible receivers leaves two spare, so one rusher still leaves you a spare defender, where at five a side the first rusher already puts you a man short. The honest default at 7v7 is one.
7 yards is further than it sounds. A young player covers it in around a second and a half once you include reacting to the snap. A quick throw to somebody standing three yards away is gone in about one and a quarter, so against that offense the rusher arrives after the ball has left.
When rushing is the right call in 7v7
Two spare defenders is what makes the question interesting here
Five eligible receivers need five defenders. You have seven, so two of them are not accounted for before you call anything. That is the first time on this site the arithmetic hands you a choice rather than a bill, and it is why a 7v7 coach can rush without the coverage falling over behind him.
The quarterback cannot run, so nobody has to come
Under the USA Football and high school rule books the quarterback may not carry the ball across the line of scrimmage himself. That removes the main penalty for rushing nobody, which is the thing that makes an unrushed quarterback dangerous in plain five a side. Here he can only stand there and throw.
The seven-second clock does some of the job for you
A pass clock starts at the snap and the play is dead if the ball has not left in seven seconds. Coverage that holds for seven seconds wins the down without anybody touching the quarterback, so a defense that rushes nobody is not hoping, it is running the clock out on purpose.
He holds the ball
Count "one thousand one, one thousand two" from the snap. If he is still looking at that point, he is a quarterback a rusher will reach, and every down you do not send somebody is a down he gets for free. This is the only condition on the list that you can check from the sideline without knowing anything about the opponent.
He runs with it
A quarterback nobody is accounting for will simply walk forward, and at youth level he will keep doing it until somebody stops him. Sending one player at him is the blunt answer. A spy, who stands and waits rather than charging, is usually the better one, and it costs you exactly the same defender.
They only throw it deep
Long routes take a long time to develop, and time is the only currency a rusher trades in. Against an offense whose whole plan is to run past you, pressure is close to free: the ball is not coming out early anyway, so the defender you spent was not going to be needed underneath.
It is an obvious long-yardage down
Third and twelve forces a throw that has to travel, which puts the clock back on your side. This is a situational call, not a philosophy. Rushing because the situation says so is different from rushing because it is what you do.
What the extra defender is worth
The same 7 players, arranged for the two answers. What changes is not aggression, it is how much help is left behind them.
- Rush nobody7 v 57v7: no rusher, 5 defenders matched on 5 receivers and 2 spare in the middle.
Everybody is covered and two defenders are left over. One stands where the routes cross and the other can double their best receiver, which is a luxury no smaller format has.
This is the player you are trading. He has nobody to cover, which is exactly what makes him useful: he can double their best receiver, sit on the crossers, or wait for the quarterback. Send a rusher and one like him remains, which is the whole argument for rushing at this size.
- Rush one6 v 57v7: one rusher and 6 defenders on 5 receivers.
Still ahead. Every receiver is covered and one defender has nobody, so the rusher costs you the double rather than the coverage.
Three defaults, and what each one costs
All three are legal on every down. The rule book asks nothing of you here, so this is a coaching choice rather than a compliance one.
Rush nobody and cover with seven
Where it excelsEvery eligible receiver is doubled somewhere or bracketed outright, and the pass clock ends the down for you. Against a young quarterback who cannot find a second read, this wins most snaps without a single flag pull behind the line.
Exposed · the middle underneathA patient quarterback gets the full seven seconds every single down, and seven seconds is long enough for a good receiver to win twice. The completions come slowly rather than suddenly, which is why coaches miss that it is happening.
Rush one from the mark
Where it excelsYou still have a spare defender after he leaves, so nothing in coverage is stretched. He shortens the clock the quarterback is actually working against and he takes away the step-up that a completely unrushed passer gets for free.
Exposed · the flatSeven yards is a long way. Against an offense that throws on a three-step rhythm the ball is gone before he arrives, and you have spent a defender on a snap where he was never going to matter.
Rush two and play the rest square
Where it excelsThe rule book allows any number, and two rushers from opposite sides is the first look that genuinely hurries a seven-second clock. It is the call for a down where the offense has to hold the ball.
Exposed · deepNow five defenders are covering five receivers with nobody spare, which is plain five a side arithmetic imported into a format that did not have to accept it. One beaten defender is a touchdown.
One, standing on the mark, going on most downs
It is the only setting that costs you nothing you cannot afford. You keep a spare defender, you shorten the clock, and the two-rusher look stays in your pocket for the downs where the offense has already told you it has to throw deep.
What to say at practice
- 1
Count to seven on the first series
Have an assistant count out loud from the snap. If the ball is regularly still in the quarterback's hands at five, coverage alone is beating them and a rusher buys you nothing.
- 2
Pick the spare defender before you pick the rusher
Name which two players are the extras against their five. The rusher comes out of that pair and never out of the five who are covering somebody.
- 3
Put him on the mark whether or not he is going
He stands seven yards back on every down. Going is a decision he makes after the snap, and the offense cannot tell the difference before it.
The numbers behind the decision
They hand it off and the rush rule disappears
Once the ball is handed off the seven-yard requirement stops applying and every defender may cross the line. Tell your players that out loud, because a defense that keeps honouring the mark after a handoff is standing still while a runner goes past them.
Your league caps rushers at two and wants them declared
The high school books require a raised hand and allow no more than two. That is a better deal than it sounds: declaring costs you surprise but it lets your rusher start anywhere along the mark, and the offense still has to account for him on every snap.
They are throwing it in under two seconds every down
Stop rushing entirely and put that player in the flat. A quick-game offense has already decided your rusher is irrelevant, and the only way to make them wrong is to be standing where the ball is going rather than running at where it came from.
When not to rush
When the ball is out in a second
A quick throw to somebody standing three yards away beats any legal rush, every single time, because the rusher has further to travel than the ball does. Rushing harder against a quick-game team does not make it worse for them; it makes it worse for you, because you removed the defender who was standing where the ball is going.
When you are protecting a lead
Late in a game you are ahead in, the spare defender is worth more than the sack you are probably not going to get. Pressure is a way of buying a big play with a risk of a bigger one, and a team in front has no use for that trade.
When your players cannot cover on their own yet
Sending a rusher turns every matchup on the field into an isolated one with no help behind it. If your defenders are not ready to be alone, do not create a situation where all of them are. This is the most common reason a youth defense that rushes gives up more than one that does not.
When their quarterback is also their best athlete
Charging at a player who is better than everybody on the field usually just removes a defender from the part of the field he is about to run to. Stand somebody in front of him instead and let him decide what to do about it.
Take it to your team
Draw your plays in the football play designer, collect them in the football playbook maker, and print play cards so every player knows them come Saturday.
Draw it for your own team
Open the designer at 7v7, put your defenders where this page says, and print it so everybody shows up on Saturday knowing the same thing.
Open the free play designerRelated questions
Do you have to rush the quarterback in 7v7 flag football?
Is rushing worth it in 7v7?
Can the quarterback run in 7v7 flag football?
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Coach Ray Carroll
Coaches 5v5 flag football from kindergarten through 7th grade in San Mateo and San Carlos, California, and built RC Football to design, teach and print the plays his own teams run.